Research Master in Cognitive & Clinical Neuroscience: Neuroeconomics

The research master’s (Master of Science) programme in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience is a two-year programme that offers fivespecialisations. The fivespecialisations are: Cognitive Neuroscience, Fundamental Neuroscience, Neuropsychology, Psychopathology and Neuroeconomics. This interfacultary programme (Psychology; Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Business and Economics) is designed for excellent students who want to continue their studies at a graduate school that prepares them for a career in the field of research. The programme is internationally oriented and all courses are given in English.

Research Master in Cognitiveand Clinical Neuroscience - Specialized in Neuroeconomics

Neuroeconomics combines theoretical and empirical research methods and techniques from neuroscience, economics and psychology into a unified approach. The resulting synthesis avoids the shortcomings that may arise from a single perspective approach and aims at an integrative understanding of human decision making, ranging from explaining decisions in complex social situations, like helping strangers, to the very foundations of decision-making: How do we decide when facing different choice options?

The specialisation Neuroeconomics aims at students interested in an academic career in this rapidly developing field and who are willing to take up the challenge to do research that demands multidisciplinary methods and talents. Students with undergraduate backgrounds as diverse as economics, mathematics, psychology, biology, computer science, physics, and engineering are suited for the programme, provided they are willing to learn and apply high level mathematical models and statistical methods.

Programme Outline

The specialisation Neuroeconomics is jointly organised by the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience (FPN) and the Economics Departments of the School of Business and Economics (SBE). You will follow courses at SBE as well as FPN and you will receive an in-depth training in quantitative theoretical and empirical methods in economics, cognitive neuroscience and extensive hands-on training in all aspects of neuroimaging research. The program combines this methodological training with the theoretical and experimental approaches from economics, psychology, and neuroscience to study human decisions in all its aspects.

Research

The research in Neuroeconomics is conducted by an international and multidisciplinary group of researchers with backgrounds including economics, neuroscience, psychology, mathematics, and computer science, which are members of the Maastricht Research School of Economics (METEOR) and the Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (M-BIC), respectively. METEOR offers a fully equipped state-of-the- art experimental laboratory and M-BIC offers a unique research infrastructure with the newest ultra-high field imaging facilities. You will be fully integrated in this research team and will participate in cutting-edge neuroeconomics research unravelling the psychological and neurophsyiological processes underlying human decisions using rigorous economic and game theoretical modelling, behavioural experiments, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and other state-of-the-art methods in neuroscience. Examples of research currently carried out by the research group are the investigation of the relation between intertemporal choices and impulsiveness, the neuronal basis of prosocial behaviour and reciprocity, how neuronal data can be used to predict choices across different decision domains, and whether specific brain processes can explain the different behaviours of men and women in competitive situations.

Internships

The local state-of-the-art research infrastructure and the multidisciplinary team provide a large international research network in all involved research fields. The fact that the local researchers have backgrounds in economics, neuroscience and psychology gives access to institutes in all three subfields as well as to institutes specialising in neuroeconomics. This offers unique opportunities for internships at some of the most prestigious research institutes around the globe. Internship research topics can vary from studying individual decisions to exploring social human behaviour and research methods range from behavioural research to fMRI, TMS and DWI fibre tracking.

Career Focus

The specialisation in Neuroeconomics provides an optimal basis for a career in fundamental and applied neuroeconomics and decision neuroscience. Graduates in this specialization are expected to continue their careers as PhD candidates at research institutes specializing in behavioural economics and decsision neuroscience and will as well be able to use their acquired expertise as consultants and advisors in decision making and conflict resolution.